November 17-25, 2018
“Hey Seattle SuperSonics!” he called out to me. Our colleague from the Baku office in Azerbaijan liked to refer to me this way. “You know I’m still heartbroken about the team leaving Seattle” I responded, referring to the horrible "robbery" of our NBA team to Oklahoma City in 2008. He made my day with the next line: “When I’m rich I’ll buy the team back and return them to Seattle. It’s the only way.” And after that, I knew I’d like this country.
Tony, a friend of mine who used to travel all over CEE for work, would always post on Facebook “Now I’m in ______, my favourite of all!” filling in the blank with wherever he was at that moment. Even though the way he spelled "favorite" was incorrect, I still read his posts. And since he seemed to say the same thing for every city, I didn’t think much of it when I saw him write about Baku. But now that I’ve been there, I think it might have been true!
Baku surprised me a lot. In a good way. The city had a lot of nice sites, monuments, a variety of architecture, numerous parks and the Caspian Sea. Just outside the city we saw some things I had never seen before in my life, like petroglyphs in the cliffs (if you are a rapper, feel free to borrow that lyric), cold mud spewing from “volcanoes”, and a mountain that is literally on fire. On top of that was good food and accommodating people. Even though I spent a whole week working there, it felt like a vacation. Since Zosia stayed home “with the kids”, I couldn’t help but think how much she’d like everything I saw and ate. Especially the local sweets.
It’s hard to go more than a couple days without eating gluten, but Zosia and I had been on a month-long gluten-free period and were just getting adjusted to it when this trip came up. I had 5 more days of gluten freedom, and had to try to survive in a new country. I checked the calendar and noticed my first day of gluten would coincidentally be Thanksgiving Day. I didn’t know if I should be excited or concerned about what some stuffing and pumpkin pie might do to my stomach after so long without any wheat or bread. Luckily it seemed that cutting out gluten, and re-introducing it with such reckless abandon, had no effect on me.
The flight to Baku took over 7 hours, with a short layover in Istanbul. Add another 3 hours for the time change and it took all day. Azerbaijan is bordered by Russia and Iran, and has been in a state of war with Armenia. To learn more about the city and country, as I usually do when traveling to a new place, I booked a guided tour for my first day (Viator.com is becoming a go-to). Baku has a lot of big, European style buildings, generally from money from the oil industry, the biggest investor being the Nobel family. The city sits on the Caspian Sea, and there are oil fields everywhere. Not only in the sea, but nodding iron horses can be seen all around the outskirts. Speaking of the Caspian Sea, my first fun fact learned was that it is technically a lake, since it doesn’t have any connection to an open ocean. Boom.
Azerbaijan is officially a Muslim country, but in what seems like a common theme for countries in the former Soviet Union, where religion was suppressed for a long period of time, it’s not strictly practiced. Baku is the capital, and is the name in both Farsi and English. While in Azerbaijani, it’s called Baki. I'm just telling you that so you don't sound like an idiot like I did, when I made fun of them because nobody could spell the name of the city. The area around Azerbaijan, including Armenia and Georgia is called the Caucasus, which back in the 18th century gave rise to the term “Caucasians”. But why people in the US refer to all "European Americans" as Caucasians is a mystery to me.
One of the highlights of the city tour was seeing 10-15,000 year old petroglyphs in the hills around the city. When you see them, they appear so simple and could have been painted by some kids with a magic marker. Most of them are exposed and could be subject to vandalism and deterioration from the weather, which adds to the intrigue. It’s also interesting how they interpret the simple images of a cow or a boat to understand the culture or what happened during that time. Thor Heyerdahl is a Norwegian ethnographer who even thought that the Vikings might have originated in Azerbaijan, in his "Search for Odin", due in part to the similarities in the petroglyphs. Scandinavia and Azerbaijan are very far apart, so it makes you wonder if it's just a coincidence.
Another highlight has to do with the natural resources in the country. With so much gas coming out of the earth, you'd think it's lactose intolerant. Gas is constantly seeping everywhere, from the land that is always burning, to the bubbling mudflows in the mountains. The locals said that the mud is good for your skin so I bottled some up and brought home a gift for Zosia. Smart move by me, since it was cheaper than cosmetics at the airport duty free shop. Since there is gas everywhere, you can even light the mud on fire. But the most fascinating thing to me was the fire mountain Yanar Dag. The mountain literally burns all day, everyday. There have been references to burning mountains like this around Azerbaijan for centuries, though as pockets of gas run out, the locations might change. It’s hard to understand how much gas has burned just in this spot over the last decades, but then you think of the bigger picture and it's unfathomable to think of how much oil and gas we use in the world everyday, and how much is still inside the earth. At the same time, it’s not hard to imagine that it will run out eventually, and we need to think of more sustainable sources.
With a country of fire also comes stories and ancient beliefs connected to said fire. We visited a fire temple (Ateshgah), which was built in the 17th century by Hindus coming from India. Eventually it was adopted by Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and was thriving in Persia until the Muslims pushed them out. Zoroastrians still exist today, scattered around Iran and India. In fact, there’s one famous Zoroastrian you may have heard of: Freddie Mercury.
Another funny thing I learned is that there is a national Spring holiday where everyone gets 5 days off in the middle of the usual busy work season, which is already amazing to me. But they have tradition if you put your hat in someone’s house they have to fill it with sweets without seeing or talking to you. Even more impressive, one guy in his 30s spoke openly and casually about how he married his wife without seeing or meeting her, after his mom set up a few possibilities and their families met a few times to decide the best fit. I kinda wanted to be on this family committee who basically interviews family and friends of the potential partners to decide which spouse to choose. And I especially want to be part of the family “courting” parties where the families drink together all day before the engagement takes place. Anyone need my help?
Speaking of feasts, they made sure I was taken care of on Thanksgiving. My big day of eating gluten again was not disappointing. We went to an international hotel restaurant which served the classics, and I was properly stuffed. The first bite of bread was delicious, the last bite of pie was perfection. Exactly like this trip to the Land of Fire.
“Hey Seattle SuperSonics!” he called out to me. Our colleague from the Baku office in Azerbaijan liked to refer to me this way. “You know I’m still heartbroken about the team leaving Seattle” I responded, referring to the horrible "robbery" of our NBA team to Oklahoma City in 2008. He made my day with the next line: “When I’m rich I’ll buy the team back and return them to Seattle. It’s the only way.” And after that, I knew I’d like this country.
Tony, a friend of mine who used to travel all over CEE for work, would always post on Facebook “Now I’m in ______, my favourite of all!” filling in the blank with wherever he was at that moment. Even though the way he spelled "favorite" was incorrect, I still read his posts. And since he seemed to say the same thing for every city, I didn’t think much of it when I saw him write about Baku. But now that I’ve been there, I think it might have been true!
The land of fire, and scary little fire sorceress girls
Baku surprised me a lot. In a good way. The city had a lot of nice sites, monuments, a variety of architecture, numerous parks and the Caspian Sea. Just outside the city we saw some things I had never seen before in my life, like petroglyphs in the cliffs (if you are a rapper, feel free to borrow that lyric), cold mud spewing from “volcanoes”, and a mountain that is literally on fire. On top of that was good food and accommodating people. Even though I spent a whole week working there, it felt like a vacation. Since Zosia stayed home “with the kids”, I couldn’t help but think how much she’d like everything I saw and ate. Especially the local sweets.
It’s hard to go more than a couple days without eating gluten, but Zosia and I had been on a month-long gluten-free period and were just getting adjusted to it when this trip came up. I had 5 more days of gluten freedom, and had to try to survive in a new country. I checked the calendar and noticed my first day of gluten would coincidentally be Thanksgiving Day. I didn’t know if I should be excited or concerned about what some stuffing and pumpkin pie might do to my stomach after so long without any wheat or bread. Luckily it seemed that cutting out gluten, and re-introducing it with such reckless abandon, had no effect on me.
The flight to Baku took over 7 hours, with a short layover in Istanbul. Add another 3 hours for the time change and it took all day. Azerbaijan is bordered by Russia and Iran, and has been in a state of war with Armenia. To learn more about the city and country, as I usually do when traveling to a new place, I booked a guided tour for my first day (Viator.com is becoming a go-to). Baku has a lot of big, European style buildings, generally from money from the oil industry, the biggest investor being the Nobel family. The city sits on the Caspian Sea, and there are oil fields everywhere. Not only in the sea, but nodding iron horses can be seen all around the outskirts. Speaking of the Caspian Sea, my first fun fact learned was that it is technically a lake, since it doesn’t have any connection to an open ocean. Boom.
City breakfast with a Caspian view
Jogging on the waterfront
City hall
One of the highlights of the city tour was seeing 10-15,000 year old petroglyphs in the hills around the city. When you see them, they appear so simple and could have been painted by some kids with a magic marker. Most of them are exposed and could be subject to vandalism and deterioration from the weather, which adds to the intrigue. It’s also interesting how they interpret the simple images of a cow or a boat to understand the culture or what happened during that time. Thor Heyerdahl is a Norwegian ethnographer who even thought that the Vikings might have originated in Azerbaijan, in his "Search for Odin", due in part to the similarities in the petroglyphs. Scandinavia and Azerbaijan are very far apart, so it makes you wonder if it's just a coincidence.
Visit to Gobustan
These are 10,000+ years old!
This rock is hollow and is used as a musical instrument
Another highlight has to do with the natural resources in the country. With so much gas coming out of the earth, you'd think it's lactose intolerant. Gas is constantly seeping everywhere, from the land that is always burning, to the bubbling mudflows in the mountains. The locals said that the mud is good for your skin so I bottled some up and brought home a gift for Zosia. Smart move by me, since it was cheaper than cosmetics at the airport duty free shop. Since there is gas everywhere, you can even light the mud on fire. But the most fascinating thing to me was the fire mountain Yanar Dag. The mountain literally burns all day, everyday. There have been references to burning mountains like this around Azerbaijan for centuries, though as pockets of gas run out, the locations might change. It’s hard to understand how much gas has burned just in this spot over the last decades, but then you think of the bigger picture and it's unfathomable to think of how much oil and gas we use in the world everyday, and how much is still inside the earth. At the same time, it’s not hard to imagine that it will run out eventually, and we need to think of more sustainable sources.
I'll take 10 bottles, please
The burning mountain
"Iron horses" are all over the city
With a country of fire also comes stories and ancient beliefs connected to said fire. We visited a fire temple (Ateshgah), which was built in the 17th century by Hindus coming from India. Eventually it was adopted by Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and was thriving in Persia until the Muslims pushed them out. Zoroastrians still exist today, scattered around Iran and India. In fact, there’s one famous Zoroastrian you may have heard of: Freddie Mercury.
Fire temple
Everyone there was friendly, and I felt a nice connection to the guy who used to work at the University of Washington campus in Uzbekistan (it used to exist!). But our host at the office was especially accommodating. He made sure we were always overfed, if not by a big lunch or giant plates of snacks throughout the day, then the wonderful dinners with great company. We learned a lot about the culture and history, and all the different foods...meat, fish, and every meal finished with nuts, dried fruits, and candied young walnuts (so young that the shell is soft enough to eat). I also learned a recipe for mangal salad (roasted eggplant, peppers and tomatoes) because we ate it almost every day and it was delicious. I also learned you should let eggplant sit in salt for a while to take out the bitterness before you cook it. Sorry to anyone who has eaten my bitter eggplant before. That's what she said?
A nice shell filled with rice and meat
I could eat this all day (but then I'd die)
The daily dessert spread
Daily snacks in the office (for 2 people)
Gutab, or a flatbread with some filling
Street food
Another funny thing I learned is that there is a national Spring holiday where everyone gets 5 days off in the middle of the usual busy work season, which is already amazing to me. But they have tradition if you put your hat in someone’s house they have to fill it with sweets without seeing or talking to you. Even more impressive, one guy in his 30s spoke openly and casually about how he married his wife without seeing or meeting her, after his mom set up a few possibilities and their families met a few times to decide the best fit. I kinda wanted to be on this family committee who basically interviews family and friends of the potential partners to decide which spouse to choose. And I especially want to be part of the family “courting” parties where the families drink together all day before the engagement takes place. Anyone need my help?
Old town Baku
Did one of these purses just wag its tail?
Speaking of feasts, they made sure I was taken care of on Thanksgiving. My big day of eating gluten again was not disappointing. We went to an international hotel restaurant which served the classics, and I was properly stuffed. The first bite of bread was delicious, the last bite of pie was perfection. Exactly like this trip to the Land of Fire.
